"From Local Origins and Two Sisters Are a Minus for Marriage"…Marriage Variety Shows Criticized by the Korea Communications Standards Commission

Recent marriage-themed entertainment programs have been criticized for frequently featuring discriminatory expressions based on age and gender.

On the 28th, the Korea Communications Standards Commission (KCSC) revealed the results of an inspection conducted by its Special Committee on Broadcast Language (hereafter the Special Committee) on the use of broadcast language in marriage entertainment programs such as KBS Joy’s Jungmaesulsa, tvN’s 2 Eok 9cheon: Gyeolhon Jeonjaeng (2.9 Billion: Marriage War), and MBN’s Dolsingles 4.

The Special Committee found a total of 285 issues in the three programs aired from August 17 to 20, including 41 cases of expressions undermining broadcast dignity, 119 cases violating language regulations, and 125 cases of newly coined words or expressions that could hinder communication.

The most notable were prejudiced or discriminatory expressions. Representative examples included phrases such as “Coming from the provinces is a minus factor,” “Maturity that doesn’t seem like a younger person’s,” and “An age group with little social experience who can respect their spouse.”

Article 29, Section 4 of the Broadcast Review Regulations states that “Broadcasts must not promote discrimination, prejudice, or conflict between regions, generations, classes, races, or religions.” Furthermore, Article 30, Paragraph 3 specifies that “Broadcasts must not treat a particular gender as inferior to another or promote stereotypes about gender roles by unilaterally defining the appearance, personality, or roles of a specific gender without objective grounds.”

[Image source=KBS Joy 'Jungmaesulsa' broadcast screen capture]

In the August 17 episode of Jungmaesulsa, a program where several matchmakers introduce people who meet the client’s desired conditions, a 1996-born IT developer at a financial company earning an annual salary of 75 million won appeared.

The matchmakers surprisingly gave him a low matchmaking score, stating, “Job stability and high salary are plus factors, but being from the provinces and young age are minus factors.” Remarks such as “Younger men are not much sought after in the marriage market” and “Having two sisters can also be a minus factor” were also made.

Although the broadcast displayed a subtitle saying “This is only the personal opinion of the expert,” the Special Committee pointed out that “Using subtitles that assume younger men are immature and explanations that being from the provinces gives a negative impression when looking for a spouse are problematic.”

The Special Committee further stated, “Compared to other programs, Jungmaesulsa contained many expressions that were disrespectful, 2 Eok 9cheon: Gyeolhon Jeonjaeng had unnecessary foreign words, and Dolsingles 4 had many inaccurate expressions.”

For example, the excessive use of incorrect foreign words or newly coined terms such as ‘adari’ (a misused Japanese word meaning ‘hit the mark’), ‘halmanhaan’ (short for ‘I have a lot to say, but I won’t’), ‘iptulmak’ (covering one’s mouth), ‘donggong jijin’ (pupil earthquake, a metaphor for eyes shaking in embarrassment), and ‘pro paekpkkeolleo’ (a person who points out facts well) was frequently criticized.

The Special Committee emphasized, “Given the nature of programs with many ordinary participants, the cast members are likely to lack proper awareness of broadcast language,” and urged “the production teams to exercise special caution.”

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.